Hero and Heroin
by Misty-Kid
Summary: Detective Messer finds himself in dangerous situation.
1. Chapter 1

Hey all welcome to my very first CSI:NY effort - as usual the rules of fanfic apply to the story:

a) The characters and premise of the show belong to the creators of CSI:NY

b) This is a fictional creation names, places, dates etc are improvised and not intended to be completely accurate.

c) I have no beta so any mistakes are my own (also not American so dont punish me or differences in terms/phrases)

d) If you've got something constructive to say post a review!

* * *

"Police! Outta the way! Move!"

A breathless Don Flack yelled as his feet pounded along the sidewalk, people around him gasped as he barrelled past down the busy street.

Just behind him his best friend and most trusted colleague was also in hot pursuit, "Why do they always run. Huh? When I catch his ass…"

Danny's thick accent cut through the air and Flack couldn't help but grin at his direct comments, the perp did a quick dive to the right and Flack just caught sight of his arm as it disappeared.

* * *

On Mac's orders he and Danny had been sent to interview a potential suspect in a body dump that had washed up on the shores of the Hudson. As was usually the case the apartments were a dump, smashed windows, trash everywhere, you could feel the dirt rubbing off on you just from looking inside.

Not to their surprise they couldn't find a super and no one in the halls would even look them in the eye never mind give them directions. Finally finding the right apartment they found the door ajar and voices floating out into the corridor, the smell of illegal drugs were instantly recognisable.

After all the years they had worked together, the thousands of warrants they had executed all Danny and Flack needed was a look to automatically know how to work this situation in sync.

Silently they drew their guns from the positions on their hips; Flack reached out and kicked the door open a little more. Strewn around the floor were mattresses, bodies, countless needles and any type of drug paraphernalia you could name.

Around a table in the far corner sat three men, each one more bedraggled and scrawny than the last. In the centre of the table lay various foils, lighters, bags and syringes scattered across the filthy surface.

"Sorry to break up a fun party fellas." Flack called as he entered the room with one of his famous one liners.

Instantly the lifeless room exploded in motion – the table was knocked aside scattering its contents across the room and all three men leapt in different directions.

Danny and Flack were on autopilot as they made for the men closest to them, Flack leapt over a chair and caught one of the men by the collar and slammed him into the wall. Danny levelled his gun toward the second man who instantly raised his hands above his head – obviously scared out of his wits by the threat.

"Which one of you is Carl Stephens?" Danny drawled to the shaking figure.

The man looked skittishly over at Flack who had the second guy pinned against a wall, and then his eyes darted toward the window where the chequered shirt of the final man was scrambling down the fire escape.

Immediately Danny and Flack dropped the suspects they had been corralling in favour of the chase on the warrant. Danny was quickest out the open window with Flack hot on his heels they were charging down the metal stair case toward the alley.

Upon landing on the murky dank tarmac Carl Stephens glance along the alley weighing up his options – then decided upon the crowded streets out in the open.

* * *

Flicking his radio Flack called out directions to the back up officers who were on their way. "Suspect made a right– right– right into the alley between 52nd and King."

He could hear Danny's pants matching his as they continued toward the corner,

"Flack go round and cut him off – I'll chase him right into you."

Without even looking over his shoulder Flack nodded and gave a final push to his feet to catch this guy before he could flee into the rest of this vast metropolis.

Flack had run around the outside of the building and down the other side as fast as his feet could carry him. Reaching the exit to the alley he prepared himself to run straight into Carl Stephens as he was flushed out by Danny.

He was greeted by no such commotion – his feet stop and his chest heaved as he tried to catch his breath.

The alley way was empty – a few dumpsters, cardboard boxes and cages for carrying crates – but no suspect and no Danny.

"Damn it." Flack panted and pulled out his radio. "This is Detective Flack I lost the suspect after the alley way. Detective Messer still in pursuit."

Flack glance up and down the main street trying to catch sight of two figures dispersing the crowd as they went, but there was nothing as far as his eyes could see.

Danny was fast but not that fast.

"Danny?" Flack called as he stepped into the alley. His eyes shifted up looking for any sign that they had climbed a fire escape or tried to enter a building. "Messer?"

Flack heard a grunt from down the alley he squinted into the darkness and saw a solitary foot protruding from behind a dumpster.

"Danno?" The fatigue he had felt after his run quickly flowed away as he saw a familiar tan shoe lying in the wet floor.

Reaching the dumpster Flack slid to his knees, his hands landing either side of Danny's waist where he was propped up against the wall. To Flacks relief he had no black eyes, split lips or blood flow – he released a sigh and sent up a silent thank you.

But still Danny was still and quiet he made no attempts to rise or crack a joke.

He raised an arm and reached out to his partner…

"Don."

Flack's eyes flicked up, he followed his friends gaze down.

That's when he saw it.

Protruding from the top of Danny's leg… a syringe.


	2. Chapter 2

Flack's gaze was still lingering on the foreign object which was obtruding from his friend's body where it did not belong. It sounds like a cliché but in moments like this you genuinely freeze – your mind just isn't strong enough to deal with the multitude of emotions trying to occur at once.

"Don." The voice came again but this time a little weaker than before.

Flack was suddenly brought out of his stupor as the colour and noise flooded back into his world.

"Okay… okay man… has it…I mean is it…you know _in_ your leg." The ever controlled and composed Detective was now in a situation he felt was spiralling out of his control. He took a deep shaky breath and tried to steady his hands – Danny needed him now more than ever and he had to get his act together.

No wise cracking comment came in reply Danny merely widened his eyes and raised his eyebrows toward the sky – a look which said it all_. "What the hell do you think?"_

"Right – just stay with me buddy." Reaching back into his waist band Flack pulled out his radio and took a breath before speaking as clear and slow as he could. "Detective Flack to Central, I have a 10-13. Repeat I have a 10-13 – Officer down. I need EMS assistance immediately to the alley at 52nd and King."

His radio cracked and gurgled out a response – to which he paid no attention, medical help ways on its way and that was all he needed to know. His mind raced back to his training at the academy and the numerous re-training days he was made to go on during his career, desperately his mind searching for any scarp of information which would help him here and now in this alley.

"Okay here's what were gonna do…" Flack tailed off as he caught sight of Danny's eyes. Both pupils were now huge, filling up most of his the inner eye, sporadically his eye lids flickered and his vision would roll toward the back of his head.

Gripping Danny by the shoulders he gave him a forceful shake – "Dan! Danny!"

Lazily the blue eyes roll forward roaming the alley before coming to rest on Flacks shoulder, looking down he tried to see what Danny was staring at but could find no source of interest.

Danny ran his tongue over his lips slowly trying to get some relief to his unexpectedly parched mouth. His vision was swirling and twisting like something out of Lucy's Disney movies, colours were leaping out from the air. He found it impossible to focus meaning that everything around him seemed to be coming toward him and then suddenly they had gone back to where they came from.

Flack was staying crouched beside his friend helplessly watching the events unfold with very little he could do to help. The effects of the syringe were clearly taking effects on Danny's body and mind. A red hue was filling Danny's usually sallow cheeks, the colour spreading out beneath his eyes and across his cheek bones. Raising a hand Flack touched the backs of his fingers to a cheek, instantly the intense heat radiated into his fingers.

"Come on Danno don't do this to me?" Flack muttered under his breath looking quickly along both sides of the alley. It couldn't have been more than 10 minutes since he spotted Danny's foot from behind the dumpster.

New York traffic was a bitch at the best of times, never mind Friday lunch hour when all the city workers were making their way around for their midday meal. Flack's only hope was that the ambulance could bully its way through the streets at record speed – the 10-13 call should have been enough to get them moving a double sped.

Running his hand down from Danny's cheek it rested upon his chest, as he unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt in an attempt to let some of heat out from his body. As Don's hand worked the buttons, he could feel Danny's chest rise and falling shallow beneath the fabric.

This was a clear sign to Don that things were starting to go very very wrong. Danny's usually strong breath, used generally for snorts of contempt or laughter, was barely registering beneath Don's hand.

"Okay here we go Danno…trust me for a plan of action?" Pushing several boxes to the side he slipped a hand around Danny's neck and tilted him to the side laying him gently into his lap.

"Right we gotta make a deal here buddy. You keep those eyes open and keep breathing" he tried to keep his voice as even as possible, "and in return I promise not to tell anyone about the time Anna Jessop stood you up in the bar for that air force dude."

It was a vain attempt to do something he kept up the inane chatter to Danny, even though he could no longer see the pupils of his eyes as they were rolled back so far, sweat trickled down his forehead and his breath getting shallow with every difficult pant.

'_Where the hell is this ambulance...'_


	3. Chapter 3

By the time the ambulance arrived Don had a strong grip on both of Danny's wrists to keep them down beside his waist. On several occasions he had let out a strange strangled noise, which Don could only describe as animalistic, and he began to pull at his clothing. No amount of asking, telling or shouting had made him stop so Don had finally forcibly removed his hands from his clothing.

Although he was glad that Danny was still alive and breathing, the ease with which he was able to hold him down did nothing to quash the ball of fear which had settled into his stomach.

By now Danny had taken on a distinctively beetroot tone all over, the beads of sweat ran down his forehead and his shirt now had large wet patches. After the first failed attempt to pull at his shirt Don had released the rest of the buttons on Danny's top shirt revealing a wife beater underneath which by now was soaked and sticking to the skin.

Don had sat for what felt like hours clinging to his friend, all he could do was murmur words of comfort over and over until thankfully the sirens grew close enough to signal his rescuers had arrived.

By the time the EMTs were jogging round from the ambulance Don was hoarse from yelling at them to hurry up (or something to that effect with a few extra undesirable words). The lead EMT, an older balding man with a clear middle age spread, grabbed an emergency bag and made his way to Danny's side.

"What the sit rep?" he shot out, addressing Don but never taking his eyes off Danny.

"He was chasing a suspect down the alley – I found him like this. The needle's in his leg I didn't want to touch it in case I did more damage." Don could hear his voice respond to the EMT but he didn't remember opening his mouth to speak.

"Gary get the trolley – we're gonna have to move." In just a few seconds the EMT had confirmed all of Don's worst fears, his best friend was in serious danger.

Working together all three of the men were able to bundle Danny's limp body onto the trolley and haphazardly place him in the back of the ambulance. The older EMT stayed in the back with Danny while the younger returned to the cab.

"You coming?" A simple question asked a million times before but it never meant to so much to Don before, he didn't trust his voice to speak so he just climbed in and shut the door.

Don placed himself on the other side of the tiny space sitting on a fold down seat specifically for passengers the safety belt remained were it hung not thinking of his own safety. He watched carefully as the paramedic worked to place an IV in Danny's right elbow, he threw the bag to Don and barked out, "Squeeze that!"

Now given a purpose Don felt more helpful than he had been in the alley so he gripped the bag of clear fluid tight in his fists as if he held the cure to Danny's problems.

He was aware of another voice in the air and turned his head to see the driver gripping a radio and relaying information to the hospital as quick as he could. Barely a word made sense to Don but he was glad that they were finally on the move.

"Mercy this David 3-4 bringing the 10-13: officer down. We have a male, approximately 35, syringe lodged in the upper thigh hopefully intramuscular. As yet we are unsure as to what the syringe contained we'll need a testing kit as soon as we're in. Temp on pick up was nearing 40ºc, currently pushing through cooled saline and using cooling blankets in attempt to bring that down – suggest ice packs on arrival. Patient responding to painful stimulus and presents shallow labouring breathing. ETA is 7 minutes."

As he looked down to place the radio back on the hook the young driver swore as he had to swerve wildly round a sedan in front which had decided to stop abruptly at the junction. Swearing and gesturing he pulled around the car and quickly checked the junction before putting his foot down once again.

Don almost let a smile creep onto the corners of his mouth as he thought of Danny's comments on his driving had he been travelling under different circumstances but before he could let the twitch settle on his face Danny let out a cry.

Don could only watch in horror as his best friend became completely rigid, his back arched up of the bed and his sluggish eyes rolled back almost completely gone. Taking air in gasps through tight clenched teeth the tension was suddenly released and he began to convulse. Like waves starting from the top of his head and making every muscle twitch and writhe until they had reached his toes.

"He's seizing." The EMT called out to his colleague and then gripped onto Danny's legs, "Help me. We have to hold him."

Don let the bag drop from his hands as he leapt to his feet and took hold of Danny's shoulders. At this point Don was cursing all those hours of hand ball, running and weight training Danny had put in to maintain his physique. Holding him down was not easy now that his muscles were involuntarily contracting and releasing in a random pattern.

Finally the seizure began to lessen and then came to a complete stop but today Danny just could not catch a break and when he fell limp under their grip Don was alarmed to see a line of blood trickle down his chin.

"It's okay he bit his tongue." The paramedic brushed past Don in the small space and immediately went back to work on his stricken friend. "We've lost any respiratory movement update Mercy they'll need to intubate in the ER."

"No need!" Came the response from the front, it was all Don could do not to reach through the small gap and tear the cocky EMTs head of his shoulders. As he made a move to rip the guy a new one the ambulance gave a final lurch and the back doors swung open.

Don thought he had never seen a better site that the team of doctors and nurses ready for Danny's arrival. Quickly he was pulled from the ambulance and the EMTs once again relayed the medical information to those waiting.

After hours Don had found silence once again, standing in the ambulance bay he watched as the team surrounded the trolley and frantically began to bark out orders and tests.

Something on the floor caught his eye and he instinctively reached in to pick it up. Looking into this hand, his breath was sucked from his lings and his jaw tightened under the threat of tears.

There broken on the floor of the ambulance he had found Danny's glasses, lost somewhere in the whole sordid process.

When Danny was better he would need these– and Don Flack would be at his side.


	4. Chapter 4

Unconsciously his knees bounced over and over as his arms rested on top, hands clenched together, and tongue running over his dried lips.

Abruptly he stood and walked toward the double doors – not so discreetly peering through the small rectangular window looking for any signs. Disappointingly all he could see was a sea of pale blue scrubs and hear loud barking orders none of which made much sense to his untrained ears.

He knew it was crazy but some small part of his brain had convinced him that he would see Danny sitting up in bed chattering away like normal and complaining about being used as a human pin cushion.

Scrubbing a hand over his face he turned his back on the scene, pacing back toward the seat and the discarded cup of hospital coffee an auxiliary had brought him out of sheer pity.

"Don!" It was the voice he had been dreading since this whole ordeal began – Lindsay.

"Don, where is he?" Her eyes were wide in panic, she glanced around the corridor and Flack knew that her brain had somehow convinced her of the same scenario he had just had shatter seconds ago.

"In there." He weakly pointed toward the double doors blocking their view, wishing he had something more to say to his best friends' wife. "The doctors are working on him Linds."

"Flack what the hell happened?" - Mac, he hadn't even seen the boss making an entrance. He had been so worried about facing Lindsay he had failed to notice the rest of his team make their way to the corridor.

"Perp stuck him in the thigh with a needle."

_Wow Don don't beat around the bush or anything just tell them straight – what the hell was the matter with me?_

Stella had made her way over to Lindsay and wrapped an arm around her shoulders she was speaking soft whispered words into her hair – but Flack couldn't hear and didn't want to he couldn't be party to the lies Stella would be telling 'He'll be okay, he's strong, it'll be alright' she hadn't been in that ambulance.

Mac gripped him by the elbow and steered him away from the girls, Hawkes gave a glance over his shoulder at the treatment room and then followed suit.

"Don? Don?" He raised his eyes to find two other pairs staring straight back he knew he must look like hell "Don what happened – from the start."

Sighing deeply his knees gave up their will to hold him up – he stank defeated into the plastic seating. Head in his hands he relayed the day's events over to Mac – with a little more detail this time.

"When we got the E.R. they took him in there and haven't told me anything since." Meekly he pointed in the direction of the door, finally looking up he realised that Stella and Lindsay had joined the group at some point during the story.

Silence descended over the small group, nothing could quite follow the story Flack had just told. If possible Lindsay looked even paler than she had when she first came into the hospital.

"I'll go see if I can find anything out." Sheldon turned and left the small group heading toward the nurse's station.

"He's going to be alright Linds – its Danny he's tough."

"He's not superman."

Silence again – clearly no one was in the mood for false hope.

* * *

After what felt like an eternity Sheldon returned running a hand across his short hair and wringing his neck, reluctant to speak to the small group.

"Spit it out Sheldon." Don was reaching the end of his tether.

"Uh" his gaze flitted over Lindsay, he must have down this a thousand times when he was working as a doctor passing on bad news was never easy but when it was someone you knew it was the worst responsibility in the world.

"How is he?" Lindsay questioned voice full of sadness.

"Honestly? He's not in good shape Linds. They tested the syringe when they brought him into the ER it came back positive for heroin."

He paused briefly to let the information sink in; Lindsay sat back down into the garish plastic seats the tears silently making way down her cheeks. Don tilted his head to the ceiling feeling himself on the verge of tears but he wouldn't cry – what would Danny say if he did.

"Given that Danny has never taken heroin before, obviously, his body is reacting as it would to an overdose whatever was left in the syringe is too much for his body to handle. There is an antidote which can be successful if administered within 48 hours…"

"Why do I sense a but coming?" Don sneered.

"…but…given that heroin is usually cut with a range of substances before it's sold the reaction can be different every time."

"So what now?" Mac as always the calm, even member of any group.

"They've transferred him up to Intensive Care, he's intubated to support his breathing and they are monitoring him closely: temperature, pulse, blood pressure all the usual things. Other than that…"

He was cut off sharply by Lindsay.

"It's up to him."


End file.
